. . . >> there could also be more serious reasons. we could change the behavior. that looks different when we have little kids versus middle school versus high school. i will tell you, empathy building is probably important all the way along the spectrum when you are dealing with a kid that's being aggressive. the flip side of that is we know we have done a tremendously bad job about addressing kids that

have been targeted. i don't disagree with you that it can provide harm even if you aren't categorizing it as harm. we have done little to increase our kids sense of safety and belonging so they start seeing it is about them and they start seeing themselves as the person that will always be ostracized or won't belong. until we break that cycle, they are at much more higher risk of all kinds of dangerous behaviors going forward. that's where our energy should be in changing behavior. we are talking about kids. i will utter it, i do not believe in criminalizing behavior of kids. i do think we should think in a developmental framework. it is their job to push boundaries and figure out where they belong and who their peer groups are. we need to teach them, not just tell them what to do, model appropriate behavior. we need to be spending a whole

lot more time around our kids that are being targeted. we have left them out of the equation in all those suspensions we did. >> i want to make sure we have adequate time for questions. i would like to take this moment for questions, if anyone has any questions. if you could stand for us, please. >> hi. i thank you all very much. it is very helpful. as a mom of young children, and as a lawyer, it's great for me to know about the remedies and what i can do but ultimately, my goal is preventing harm, not going to court, right? with the current political climate, this is our new normal. no matter who wins the election, this climate is not going to change overnight.

what are the strategies you discuss to make sure my kids are confident and strong so that i can't ignore it will happen. i'm in awe public charter school that's very divorce. you are working with kids. you are going to say, i want to make sure my kids are very strong and if it does happen, it kind of rolls off their back. >> we learned a lot back in the day from the gay rights movement. right after prop 8, the level of aggression against our lgbt kids was really strong in california and across the country. i think that some of the strategies were to go out there and use social media on the other side. everything from the "it gets better," taking the bull by the horns and saying, no, that is not our reality.

we are going to create our own reality and it is going to look very different. i think we have to think about those things. as a parent, i don't want our kids to inherit this mess we presently have here. there is a lot of connection that can happen through social media. rural kids were very, very isolated from larger communities, can come together on the internet in a way they didn't have in real life, certainly for lgbt youth. some of the plaes wheces where flipped the script on people can be some of the things we can start thinking about right away to be doing. >> i appreciate your question on so many levels. i do this work day in and day out and i have twin 7-year-olds

that i worry about every day. the irony is there. one thing i'll say is i certainly think that we can't assume that the school is aware of the fear that you have about your child. so that's, in part, why we encourage parents to take ourler and share it with their principle or their vice-president or with the teacher, themselves. my kids are in second grade. they come home and talk about the election all the time. they have these conversations on the playground, who they are going to vote for. i tell them. you are 7. you can't vote just yet. for me, as loud media opportunity to have healthy conversations with my children. people can choose. we are in a democracy. we get to vote where we are going to go for dinner. it gives me the opportunity to have the conversations with my

children. it wasn't until i went in and spoke to the teacher and the principle. they don't have a problem. i am just letting them know this is something that i as a parent am concerned about. this is the climate. most of them already know. depending worn you live, i have a child in this school and i want to make sure you are aware of the environment and some of the different ways it may manifest itself. on the flip side, there are some other organizations that are doing really great work in terms of improving cultural competencies in schools. making sure na teachers and administrators have the greater competency, what does it mean to be muslims? they are not all immigrant communities. they are diverse. you may have one in the school. they may not have a name like mohammed abdel-elah.

they may have a name like brenda. it is something that is a really great effort. there are ways to bring those conversations to schools and one last thing i will add, i met this amazing 16-year-old who has started a program at her high school in montgomery county. it was called seek, kid to kid. what she has done is because of the confusion and people didn't understand the difference between sikhs and muslims, they started an organization where the kids talk to their teachers about what does it mean to be sikh. how is that different in hindu, from being muslim? they created a whole program around it. as your children get older, there are opportunities for them to own their own narrative. we raise them while they are young to be proud of who they are. you see that. seeing this 16-year-old girl start this organization to increase cultural competency,

i'm sure you have met her too. it was quite inspiring. maybe there are similar earth's by young muslim students. there are things you can do as a parent. there are resources that can come to your school for teachers and administrators and encouraging our high school kids to shape their own narratives as well. >> really quickly, i want to answer the question in a very different way. karuma is an educational organization. we work with different marg jenalized groups within the muslim community. mostly women. a lot of our work is on gender equity. bullying is one issue of marginal zation and patriarchky is another. one of the incredible tools of empowering muslim woman is through knowledge of islam. what is really the root of what

is happening is that islam is being vilified. islam is being torn down. as proud muslims who are proud of their faith, i feel like we have to counter the narrative for our children at home so that these voices are so loud. there can be much more emphasis in creating an identity, civic engag engage. it is the time for voting. the first dprup that ever voted in islamic history is a group of women. that's a story our children should be hear ing. that story from a religious perspective should be part of our kitchen conversation in muslim families so we are countering. we are not going to be able to

stop what kid are hearing on the news or what they are getting in social media. i think that this idea of islam in its just and he can quist website. you can check out karamah's website. i have found that has been so transformative in the gender context for people that said, we didn't even know we have these rights. what we don't want to do is create a generation of kids who are saying, i'm not out as a muslim, because i'm so embarrassed of being muslim or i'm scared of being muslim. instead, we want to give tools primarily -- i'm putting more work on your plate but for parents to be teaching kids about the legacy of islam and what to be proud of.

>> question, please, stand. >> thanks, for all of you for coming and helping us learn more. i'm a government paralegal. i've worked with attorneys for nine years and one thing that attorneys tend to work with and some of them really love is hypotheticals. so for all the panelists, i want to give you two hypotheticals that are similar but related and i would love the panelists to sort of react to it. how about that? >> i want you to imagine any public school, three students. kadesia, a young woman woman any age. ali, a young muslim male, any age, think of any sort of background, immigrant, american-born and then think about bill, non-muslim student in the same context. i was really moved by you guys comments about whether or not kids have internalized and

absorbed, muslims are terrorists, it is okay to be called a terrorist. i want you to think about kadesia being called that and being really emotionally affected and by ali being called that, whether by a peer or superior and bill beinlike, wha bill, not muslim and not understanding the same background and understanding, why is kadesia so upset. i don't get it. i would love to hear you guys think about and talk about what happens in our community where you have these two muslim kids and they are interacting with each other in the schools or in the muslim community outside the school. one kid thinks it is no big

deal. another kid is emotionally affected by it. what i'm trying to get at is what you called empathy building and emotional intelligence skills and how this is going to affect muslim youths. >> the other hypothetical. flash forward 20 years. all three kids are 20 years older, in the work place, they had this situation i described to you. i'm 20 years older. i'm still in the workforce. i would love to hear you think about what all this will do for people my age and their age 20 years in the future as members of the workforce and as employees. it's a lot but you guys can handle it. >> susan, you kind of touched on this a little bit. >> it's a wonderful hypothetical. it happens every day. i've seen it with lots of different sub groups of kids.

one of the zat parts about my job is i do focus groups with youth all the time to talk about what is affecting them. it does default back to kadesia needs to be told its unacceptable and she needs to be validated and she needs to be assured that kids aren't allowed to keep saying that. we need to address it. we also need to pull back. what's going on in the school. i think, jonathan, you said it best, that makes it okay that this kind of stuff happens. we need to make it socially unacceptable. there are consequences about how we talk about things. i don't want to assume and say i know what the consequences are. question seem to be going in cycles where we'll think about one particular sub group at a time instead of stepping back

and saying, how do we create a place where everybody, whether you -- maybe bill has some issues. i don't actually know. how do we create a lang winl ua consistency around that where everybody's individuality is validated? that is a much harder piece of the work. i listen to the same panel. that young girl is awesome. everything about her was phenomenal. the fact of the matter is, she is in the position of recreating the wheel where this week, it is this sub group and next week, that sub group. when do we step back and help ourselves say. there is a small native american

population. that football team does undermine their safety and security. i want that addressed at the same time. how do we help all three of those kids go forward. that might have happened but that was not right and that's not the environment i want to have going forward. >> i'm going to jump in and deal a little bit about the last two questions. i have the privilege of not having to have that conversation with my kid. i have a different special obligation because i have that privilege. >> what kind of privilege is that? >> the old white guy privilege. >> well, i make mistakes just like everybody else. there is an obligation.

that i then have of molding the behavior so that bill sees somebody who says that's not okay. bill understands through the experience of seeing somebody say, what happened is not okay. i am going to push back on the premise. i don't think i remember the name of the boy. my obligation as a parent is for my daughter to see that i don't stand. my privilege i have to give up and expend that privilege on things. for my daughter to see that i do

that and build in her to be a human being that will do that is a critical piece of change. it sounds very extract and i think it is something we all have to think about. i thought about it in the context of the debates. we are not saying the names but one of the candidates said something really horrible and people saw guns and this counter factual statement and the other one said, didn't actually dispute the facts. but went on to say something extraordinary and said we need to build relationships with the muslim so we have better intelligence. dylan roof walked into an african-american church in charleston, south carolina and nobody said, how come the white community didn't stand up and tell us, dylan roof was going to

do that. it is sort of a sense of an unreality of a community and what it means and how people are and this separation you are talking about. it was sort of -- i was watching the debates alone. my wife and daughter refused to watch the debates. i started yelling at my computer. that's the stuff that is only me in this room. too bad there aren't more people like me sitting in the room tonight. that's who we need to be talking to. i have an obligation. they said white people should be talking to white people about racism. that's an ethnic bit important to remember. >> i think the only thing i would add to this is sort of more of an anecdotal story about my sister. she is the kadesia 20 years

later. we grew up in a small town outside of detroit. in the '80s. this is when there was a speight of hijackings to airplanes. they were going to floor do on the plane. the shaper roans joked harnd, is your uncle going to hijack the plane. this was on enter way to their school trip. when i look back, my parents response to that was we packed up and moved to ann arbor. i grew up in a bubble. my sister did not. very spent her all the way through 7th grade growing up in an environment where she was the only muslim, person of color in her entire school. she grew up in a very different environment than i did. she didn't feel empowered to say something. she was the only one.

she didn't have allies or classmate that is were there supporting her and helping her get through things. my experience was very different. i grew up in a bubble where even to this day and maybe because of social media my elementary school friend and high school friends were so supportive, what can i do. i had a friend that teaches and e-mailed me asking, what can i talk to my students b anti-muslim bullying and students and what happens in america? >> that's the true power of being in completely different circumstances within our own family. my sister doesn't have that. her high school friends, maybe one or two are still her friends but have very different views about muslims and islam. i think you are absolutely right in terms of thinking what happens then and what impacts 20

years later. if you don't do something earlier on, engaging with the families, talking with students, creating a culture of inclusivity and appreciation for diversity at a young age and a culture that fosters empathy, what you end up with is 20 years later, the same people holding those same views. that's the tragic part of it. >> i think we have time for one more question. yes. could you stand up, please? >> my name is terry thompson and i am a school of difficult vinity student at howard university. i'm also a lawyer. i'm going to stay, i agree, lawyers don't have the answers. i would like to believe that the

faith community has some but right now i don't think they know what the tools are. i would like to hear some discussion from an inter-faith perspective, what are some of the things that the faith community can do from a more general perspective in helping to eradicate some of this. >> i am going to let the panel answer this. i want to piggy pack on something i should mention that i thought was right on target, this idea of teaching children, girls in particular, the powers and rights embodies in islam. i reverted to islam when i was in my late 20s. i hate to intellectualize my religious journey but part of my attract sthun i was amazed as a feminist the rights that women in 1890s were just getting their right to own property in new

york and islam in 7th century aarabia was giving women the right to own property. from the faith-based community, doing exactly what i mentioned, teaching and perpetuating and instilling the gender equitable principles of islam and for other faith-based communities, understanding those commonalities we talk about when we do inter-faith dialogue and programs. let me pass that question on to our panelists. >> i always appreciate the question about interfaith efforts. that's really one area where i have seen where those inter-faith relationships are built before hate crimes happen and see how communities of faith come together, for everything in

communities, not just inner-faith communities, but broader, social issues within a community that can be resolved through communities coming together. one thing i wanted to add is that in recent months, every single time there has been a hate crime against a house of worship, almost always the first people to show up are inter-faith partners. a mosque was vandalized. before prayers the next day, inter-faith partners were there scrubbing off the hateful rhetoric. we have seen time and time again where there are armed protests that take place outside of mosques. the first people standing there hand in hand to protect young children going to pray or protect the congregant that is are going into pray are inter-faith partners saying, this is not what our community stands for. that shows a true symbol for muslim communities that this is

not what america stands for. in moments where it is easy to feel as low as possible when you come to your mosque and you find fees cease smeared all over it, when you see the community come together and in a large part, it is inner-faith communities that will come, clean with you and till you this is not who we are, it is truly beautiful and gives hope after such tragic attacks. >> i love this idea, unless someone wanted to add. i love this idea. it sounds very couple buy ya, ending on this concept of hope. if we can end there and please give our amazing panel lists a round of applause. >> i do have a few announcements i would like to make.

those that are not familiar yar with camarah, we have membership information here for you. these are two of the founding members of the arabic bar association. i thank you both for your vision and your work we have a few upcoming events. on november 3rd, we have an election and an opportunity to meet some of our maare amazing board candidates. why women of color are leaving law firms and how to turn the tide. that's co-sponsored with the woman's bar association. we have fliers out front that list some of our other upcoming events. i encourage you to get involved. courtney dunn, thank you for your involvement with the

american bar association. thank you all for coming. we appreciate you. >> sunday on book tv in-depth. we are hosting a discussion on the december, 1941 attack on pearl harbor. steve to you my, countdown to pearl harbor, 12 days to the attack. eri hold da, author of "countdown to infamy and followed by an interview with donald stratton, pearl harbor survivor. we are taking phone calls, tweets and e-mails live from noon to 3:00 p.m. eastern. go to booktv.org for the complete weekend schedule. with donald trump elected as

the next u.s. president, melania trump becomes our second foreign-born first lady since louisa katherine adams. learn more about the influence of america's presidential spouses from c-span's book "first ladies." it is a look into the personal lives and influence of every presidential spouse in america history. it is a companion to c sfan's well-regarded tv cities and features interviews with 54 of the nation's leading first historians, biographies of 45 first ladies and archival photos from each of their lives. "first ladies" is available wherever you buy books and now available in paperback. p so i decided to spend much more time on the young grant. i sfent a week at west point trying to understand how this man could finish 21st out of 39

at west point and, therefore, sometimes viewed by these biographies as a historical intellectual lightweight. he said of himself, i must apologize, i spent all my time reading novels. >> sunday night on "q" and "a," historian, ronald c. white talks about the life and career of the 18th u.s. president, in his late debt book "american ulysses." >> he vconvened a meeting of african-american pchlts he said, i look forward to the day when you can eat in a restaurant and ride on a train regardless of every other person. that day must come. it took 90 years for the day to come. grant was the last american president to hold those kind of views. >> sunday night at 8:00 eastern on c-span's "q" and "a." we're live this morning as

civil rights leaders urge president-elect donald trump to denounce racism and acts of hate and bigotry. the southern poverty law center is hosting this briefing, set to start in a couple of moments live from the national press club.

we're live from the national press club as a group of civil rights leaders are holding a briefing to urge president-elect donald trump to denounce racism and acts of rate and bigotry hosted by the southern poverty law center. a couple of minutes away from the start. coming up on c-span networks live here at 6:00 eastern democratic senators, chris coombs and amy klobachar along with republican amy langford will discuss how they plan to work with the trump administration. on c-span live at 10:00, a

portion of the form on global economy and trade with tom freedman, "new york times" foreign affairs course uprrespo. it will get under way at 11:00. the house and senate in session. the house will be working on a number of small bills, including veterans health. you can see them live when they come in at eastern and 2:00 p.m. the senate will continue work on a rural health bill and cspan2 will have that at 10:00 eastern. good morning. i am president of the southern law center. i am joined by brenda abdular, janet rugia, randy wine garden, the president of the american federation of teachers, wade

henderson, president of the leadership conference for civil and human rights. i would also like to acknowledge the presence of two people who are important to us, gloria plan, from moms rising and vok laksmeden from salt. thank you both for joining us. we are here today to release two reports that document that president-elect donald trump's own words have sparked incidents around the country and have had a profoundly negative effect on our schools. the first report is called, ten days after. harassment, intimidation and the aftermath of the election. it describes 867 incidents of hate that we collected from around the country in the ten days immediately following the election. i have no doubt whatsoever that this is a tremendous, tremendous undercount. the incidents we are talking about have taken place in

schools, on public streets and parks and in retail establishments. many people have been targeted in their homes. the incident vs. been ugly. they have been aimed at people because of have ethnicity, race, religion, sexual orientation and gender. time after time, the perpetrators have invoked mr. trump's name, his slogan, or his words in their assaults. time after time those who reported hate incidents to us said they had never experienced anything like that before. the level of hate that's been unleashed by the election is something entirely new. our second report is called after election day, the trump effect. it is based on the first 10,000

reports we have received from educators around the country about the impact of the election on their students and their schools. that impact has been incredibly disturbing. 80% of the educators and teachers that have responded to us have reported heightened anxiety among their traditionally marginalized students. students that are recent immigrants are living in real fear. 40% of the respondents, 40% of the teachers that responded to us reported hearing derogatory comments directed against students of color, muslims, immigrants, and lgbt students. over 2500 specific incidents were reported to us where the teachers told us that mr.

trump's name had been invoked, where rhetoric from the election had been employed. again, most disturbingly, perhaps, 85% of the teachers who responded to us told us that they were worried about the long-run. they were worried about the continuing impact of the election, mr. trump's rhetoric on their students. they don't think this is going away any time soon. since his election, mr. trump has disavowed white supremacy. he has told the harassers to stop it but what he hasn't done is acknowledge that his own words have sparked the barrage of hate that we're seeing. instead, what has he done. he has feigned ignorance. he said he is surprised that any of his supporters would be

harassing or intimidating anyone. he says, he has no idea why white sue prem ma supremacists would be energized. he has been singing the white supremacist song since he came down the escalator in his tower and announced his candidacy, calling mexican immigrants racists. instead of pretending to be surprised by the pervasive hate that has infected our country, mr. trump needs to take responsibility for it and repair the damage that' has caused. he needs to speak out forcefully and repeatedly against bigotry. he needs to apologize to the communities he has injured and demonstrate that they will be protected and valued.

he needs to go to jersey city and apologize to the muslim community there for casting aspersions on their patriotism by lying about their reaction to the 9/11 attacks. he needs to go to los angeles to assure dreamers there is that he will not use any information from their applications for deferred action to deport them or their families. he needs to go to chicago to apologize to the black community for his grotesque stereotypic description of their lives and communities. his words must be followed by action that repair the wounds of division his campaign has caused. 600,000 people have signed petitions on the website asking him to do just that. if he does not, anything less than an apology repairing the damages that he has caused.

reaching out to marginalize communities and having his actions follow his words. if he doesn't do those things, the hate that mr. trump has unleashed during this election season will continue to flourish. i'll be happy to answer a few questions in a few minutes. first, i would like to turn the podium over to my colleagues. brenda? >> thank you, richard. good morning. today, we stand hand in hand with our fellow americans that reject racism, bigotry, anti-muslim hate, anti-semitism and division. the fbi reported a 67% increase in hate crimes against muslims in 2015. we expect an even mr dramatic rise in incidents of hate and violence when the data for 2016 is tabulated and released.

in fact, muslim advocates has been tracking hate crimes since november, 2015. we have recorded nearly 175 hate crimes against american muslims or those perceived to be muslim in the date leading up to the election. we are disturbed by the increased frequency of reported hate crimes and hate incidents since the election all across the country. president-elect trump's recent statements against hate violence and white supremacist groups that support his elections is a step in the right direction. there must be more. we need him to strongly reject bigotry in all its forms unequivocally call on americans to stop the hate violence and ensure that his administration will prosecute perpetrators of hate crimes to the fullest extent under the law. further more, president-elect trump must reconsider some of the selections he has made as

top advisors to his administration. otherwise, the selections of individuals like steve bannon, lieutenant general michael flynn and senator jeff sessions indicate that the bigoted and divisive rhetoric that we saw in the campaign will continue as a matter of policy and practice in the white house. america is hurting right now. all of us need to come together and feel safe. children are getting bullied. women with head scarfs are being attacked and bigoted rhetoric has become common place across the country. hate crimes have skyrocketed. american muslims like many americans are genuinely fearful. if president-elect trump wants to bring america together and be a leader for all americans, he will need to disavow the dangerous proposals and ideas that single out and demonize muslims and other communities. now is the time for president-elect trump to make

chapgs changes in his rhetorics, his selection and the policies under consideration by his incoming administration to send a strong message of unity to all americans. thank you. >> my name is janet margia, president and ceo of the national council of lavasa. less than 48 hours after election night, nclr, national counsel of larasa, hosted a check-in call with all of our affiliates. our affiliates are community-based organization that is provide, health, education, and social services to millions of latinos and others. many of them run charter schools or after school programs. more than 100 organizations, nearly 150 participated and what we heard from them troubled us

deeply. virtually all of these affiliates focused on the same issue. we asked them, what were they hearing and seeing in our community in those two days after the election. what they said was the devastating impact of the election. it's tone, it's divisiveness, it's harsh rhetoric and, yes, its outcome was having on the children they know and serve. they reported on countless incidents of harassment, of verbal and physical taunts, of widespread bullying and most tragically of many students contemplating taking their own lives. p they also stressed the profound anxiety and fear that

gripped these children about the future. these children are deeply worried about their parents and other family members do to the immigration status. these kids are frightened and with reason that their families may be broken up by the policies of the incoming administration. they are left to wonder whether the drakonian statements of candidate trump will be carried out by president trump. in short, everything splc chronicled in its new critically important report is corroborated by the calls and conversations we have had over the past several weeks. we are angered and saddened but not surprised by the fact that 90% of teachers have witnessed a negative impact on their students and that 80% noted how anxious their students are. this is unacceptable. nclr has already gbegun working

with our affiliates to provide support, mental health services and teacher training, to address bullying. we are working with partners like our friends here today to combat this issue together and at a national level. we are grateful to splc both for documenting what is going on by issuing these reports and also for helping us document what is going on in our community. for example, we've already translated and made in a competent way, splcs report from english to spanish and posted it on our website. much more needs to happen and it has to start with the president-elect. while he has said he wants to be the president of all americans, we've heard precious little in response to what is going on in his name, specially when it comes to the impact it has had on children and young people.

president-elect thumb needs to reassure or address the anxiety and fear of so many communities for whom he will now also be president. president-elect, we are asking you, we need you to protect and defend all americans and contempt the violence and hate being committed in your name. reach out to marginalized communities. repair the damage. thank you. >> thank you, richard. thank you, brenda and janet and wade. my name is randy weingarten. i am president of the 1.6 million member of the american federation of teachers. we have the largest college union and the second largest teachers union.

i am here not just to thank richard, the splc, the other speakers, who all in big and small ways have been spending their adult lives fighting hate and bigotry. while at the same time increasing economic and educational opportunity for americans. this is not an either/or situation. this is a both/and situation in these united states of america. i appreciate what splc has now done, because we can not live in an evidence-free zone. during the campaign, donald trump's rhetoric and policy proposals pitted americans against each other and created a culture of fear and division. unfortunately, as the other speakers have said and as this report demonstrates, we have seen a disturbing and

unacceptable surge in hateful actions all too often carried out in mr. trump's name, particularly in schools. while as the other speakers have said, while mr. trump looked at the camera directly in a "60 minutes" interview and said to the people that were doing it when asked a question, to stop it, his appointments are sending a very different message. as teachers know, you need to actually be consistent in your message if you want people to hear it. the nomination of jeff sessions, steve bannon and mike flynn have sent the message that white supremacy and anti-muslim conspiracies are in vogue these days. why am i here? because there is a tremendous amount at stake particularly at our schools. pre-k, public and private, all

of which must be safe and welcoming places of learning and acceptance for our students and parents and communities and for the educators who serve our kids. for our children to survive, for them to grow, grow, for them to thrive, they have to feel safe at school, and they have to feel that their parents are safe. and since this campaign, and now since this election, more and more do not feel safe. over the past year, teachers have reported this disturbing trend. we even called it the trump effect. we have story after story community college faculty member in washington state was brought to tears when verbally assaulted with anti-immigrant surge of students. scott caston teaches at maple grove high school in twin cities, minnesota, had black students with a sign saying

"whites only" and a vulgar message with n word on the stall door. that can go on and on. in my hometown new york city, last week five swastikas in chelsea. in my whole life there was not more than one swastika anywhere in that city. eleven days ago we sent a letter signed by organizations, co-signed by law center and aft to the president-elect asking him to denounce these actions that were done in his name. over 43,000 people signed that letter as well. we know he received it. since then crickets, silence. mr. trump has claimed he will keep americans safe and he will stand up for the little guy but he refuses to speak up for the littlest guys. our children who are taunted and bullied in schools by kids who use his name as a weapon.

the president-elect knows how to use his voice. he's done so to denounce broadway show, to denounce media personalities, but his lack of leadership here to end the hate-fueled acts inspired by his divisive campaign rhetoric is deafening. don't tell me that others haven't stood up. look what just happened, not just here, but just this weekend, even with delta where we saw that one untruly trump thumping passenger made more than 100 travelers uncomfortable. what did delta do? they not only denounced the bad behavior, they barred the man from ever traveling on a delta airplane. they apologized and reimbursed the victimized passengers. we've seen that kind of leadership from cuomo in new

york, mayor de blasio in new york city, governor wolf in pennsylvania, mayor garcetti in l.a. it's time for our president-elect to use his voice to effectively and unequivocally denounce these hateful acts dub in his name. thank you. >> good morning, everyone. first i want to thank richard cohen and southern poverty law center for these important reports and for their important research and leadership. i also want to thank my colleagues who are here this morning to bear witness so powerfully to the challenge of our time in addressing issues of hate and violence triggered, in

large part, by the presidential election we've just experienced. now, my name is wade henderson. i serve as president and ceo of the leadership conference on civil and human rights. the leadership conference is the nation's leading civil and human rights coalition with over 200 national organizations working to build an america as good as its ideals. i'm honored to note that all of the organizations here today are members of our coalition. now, throughout the presidential campaign as you've heard, and especially in its aftermath, many of the communities that we represent have come to live in fear for their basic safety and well-being. and as these reports have made abundantly clear, that fear is

unfortunately well justified. during the course of this campaign as we've heard, president-elect trump discussed a brought range of proposals that if implemented would dramatically reverse our nation's progress on civil and human rights. in the process he has vilified innocent americans as rapists, terrorists, criminals, inciting neighbors and co-workers and classmates to turn against one another. the hate-filled rhetoric of this campaign was shameful and divisive in ways that go well beyond the boundaries of our political norms and traditions. but the vast majority of americans who voted for donald j. trump did not vote for hatred, nor did they vote for violence, nor did they vote for terrorizing people for being who they are.

the america we know, the america we celebrate, the america we strive to create is a nation that honors and respects equal protection of the law for all of its people. it embraces its diversity as a strength, and it strives to be a place where all people can live and work and study and pray and love as free and equal americans. now, the same nation that values these ideals, and let's just be honest about it, is itself an imperfect work in progress, but a work in progress nonetheless. yes, its public schools are notoriously unequal. it's young men and women of color are often profiled by police as are some in the muslim community or communities thought

to be muslim like sikhs. off with disparate. we know as a nation and a community we can do better, but we won't do better with a president who fans the flames of bigotry, or treats women with disdain, or who responds to this outpouring of hatred and violence with indifference. now, governors, state attorneys general, u.s., members of congress have already responded with programs, initiatives and legislation, which we celebrate for enhanced data direction and enforcement. and public calls for this kind of violence to end. but president-elect trump has thus far failed to do his part. now, president-elect trump, you vow to be the president for all of us.

today we are calling on you to make good on that pledge by disavowing the hate speech that has affected our public discourse and by telling your supporters, and all americans, to stop committing these acts. you must lead by example in both word and deed. the nation and the world are watching. i will close with this one observation. several of my colleagues have noted the appointments that president-elect trump has made in the early days of his transition. and indeed those appointments send a message that is unmistakable. that unmistakable message seems to reinforce the very issues that are at the core of our concerns today. we are concerned about the impact of jeff sessions at the department of justice, general mike flynn, or steve bannon,

just a heartbeat away from the presidency. but the time to discuss these issues will soon arise on capitol hill. right now we're asking the president to stand up and to be counted and honor the pledge that he has made to the american people to be the president of us all. thank you. >> thank you, wade. thank you, janet. thank you, brenda. thank you, randy. we'll take questions now. i think we have a microphone so people can hear. >> i'm loud, school teacher voice. my sister is a teacher. do you see this administration and this president as someone you can work with over the next four years, or do you see your selves as basically being kind of this party in opposition for the duration of his presidency? >> i'll let wade answer that. i guess from our point of view, it's both. mr. trump is the president.

where there's common ground, we're certainly not going to oppose him on issues just for the sake of doing so. what we're concerned about, of course, is there's precious little common ground and the people he's appointed to lead important agencies, such as the department of justice, are the people he's indicated he will nominate are going to roll back policies, initiatives that are critical issues in voting, issues in policing, issues related to the criminalization of poverty. all of those kinds of issues, i think the civil rights community will stand united against those policies. >> i think no more need to be said. >> let me just say something. >> please. >> you know, it's an important question. i think we're up here, we're trying to do our job. our job is to represent these constituencies. our job is to promote civil

rights and interests of these constituencies. so when we feel that that's being threatened, we need to call it out. but i want to make it really clear, we're also reaching out. we're asking president-elect trump to hear us and to respond and to meet with marginalized communities and our leadership. and give us a chance to either raise these concerns, provide more education and background, or to hear him out. it's not fair for many of our communities to be kept in the dark, to not know, to have that uncertainty and to be a young child with an american citizen child and perhaps an undocumented parent. or to be a dreamer and not know about your future. it's our job to do that and to call that out to the

president-elect. so we want to do both. we want to make sure we're calling out rhetoric and actions that we feel are threatening to our communities, but we're also extending a hand out to say we're willing to work with you. you promised, you pledged to be a president for all of us, we want to help do you that. >> so at the end of the day if we can do things in a bipartisan way, we want to do that. like janet and wade said, our job is to create -- my union's job and my job is to create economic and educational opportunity in america, to ensure that we lift all votes, to ensure there's no hatred and bigotry and promote pluralism. we have actually asked mr. trump through a direct letter on november 18th to do this. he has not responded.

a president of the united states, we need to find ways to have that president bring people together. just like when there is common ground, like there was in the last congress on the education -- the new build, we all came together and we all said it was a good bill. but at the end of the day, this is first things first. the president-elect has to create a climate that keeps americans safe, all americans. those who voted for him and those who didn't vote for him. so this is a really important test for the president-elect of whether he will keep all americans safe. >> yes, ma'am. [ inaudible ]. >> sorry. thank you for doing this. i have several questions that i'll stick to, just one here. judging from his tweets, he

said, for instance, he wants to take -- burned flags, that's a protected speech. are you hopeful that since he's been walking away from make of his campaign pledges that he may reconsider some of the cabinet positions that he's named? how hopeful -- do you see hopeful signs thattel will walk away from some of the rhetoric or hear you out and maybe make some adjustments? thank you. >> thank you. i'm wade henderson with the leadership conference and thank you for your question, which is really a follow-up to the first question about whether, in fact, we are hopeful we can work together. i was reluctant to speak initially because i wanted my colleagues, who had organizations, whose communities are being directly affected by these issues to speak first. i thought it was important as well to be clear about where we

as a community, in addition to the remarks of my colleagues, also stand. when maya angelou once observed that when someone shows you who they are, believe them. believe them. is a standard that has to be applied both to the person currently occupying the white house and any who would hope to replace him. we are deeply troubled that in the wake of what we have described as incidents of hate-related speech activity and in some instances violence, this president-elect has chosen to address the issue only in the most superficial manner. what we are asking him to do is to provide the kind of thoughtful leadership that he made a pleblg to all americans to provide. assuming he does that, we will take his actions for what they

represent, a step forward in helping to bring us together. i don't want to overstate the challenge that we face, because the appointment of steve bannon as a counselor and adviser a few steps away from the white house, when he has supported and embraced organizations that take direct views that are racist, or appoints as an attorney general someone whose record suggests he will have great difficulty enforcing civil rights laws including on the books. that is a great challenge. we are looking to have the congress of the united states, the senate, do its job where it can to offer advice and consent in the case of senator sessions, and in other instances to

implore the president-elect to use his discretion wisely. we consider the appointment of steve bannon. we consider the appointment of mike flynn and reflect the interest we all are trying to promote. thank you. >> maybe i'm not -- i'll try to articulate this as best i can. a lot of people are saying, he's tweeting but he's a media guy, so he's just messaging. he's really trying to keep people a little confused maybe perhaps intentionally as part of his personality and tactics. i don't know if it's because he ran a reality show. i don't mean that in a disparaging way. the problem is that now he's president-elect. what he's messaging out there has ab impact object young people's lives.

these are children who are confused and concerned and in fear for their parents and their families. so while perhaps president-elect trump thinks that he's playing a messaging game, and he's trying to sort of create, you know, a way of -- a new way of communicating. perhaps that's a tactic that he's using politically. it's our job to call out that tactic and say, you know what, there are vulnerable people who are affected by that. these are young children. they are americans. many of these students, minus the certificate, their lives are really affected. they are hanging on every word that's being said. i am just not sure he understands that as he's moved into this mode now of

president-elect. it's important for us to try to remind him, to try to reinforce that real people's lives are affected by not just what he does but by what he says. >> if i could add just one point, one of our great, great hopes of the southern poverty law center is that mr. trump mightily disappoints the white supremacist, white nationalists who are celebrating his victory now. some of the early signs are obviously not hopeful. the bizarre and disheartening naming of mr. bannon as chief strategist is a very unfortunate sign. we are not going to let him forget his pledge and we are going to keep pushing in the hopes he does disappoint some of the people who brought him to the party.

yes. yes. i'm sorry? >> to the point you were just making, richard spencer, he seems to be beginning what he wants to call his danger tour. he's going to texas a&m next week, hoping to speak at the university of michigan following that. he seems to be so determined right now to take advantage of the trump effect and to, you know, get on campus, confront the microaggression safe space points of view. if it's a college, every voice needs to be heard. so he's taking advantage of the public university texas a&m. if he can do that at other public universities, how does your role change, or what is your role in confronting what seems to be more than a nation white supremacist movement on some of our campuses? >> let me turn to someone who has members on each and every one of those campuses. >> so you know, we have a very

activist union. at michigan, in oregon, other places, new york city, a&m we have some membership in community colleges. not a&m directly. but what's happening is our member is creating a circle of protection for our students that are most vulnerable and for educators most vulnerable. they will be out in force fighting the -- not fighting against free speech but fighting against the incitement and fighting for the rights and dignity and the inclusion and fighting against the bias. so we're already organizing around university of michigan, and we're already organizing in several other places. but this is part of what we believe is our role in terms of,

as janet said, really protecting our most vulnerable charges. and that goes for our universities as well as for our pre-k, elementary, and secondary schools. so we are, you know, working with and trying to get the college administrations to ensure that there are protections against incitement, but we're also going to be out there fighting for the pluralism and the inclusiveness that we believe is necessary in america. [ inaudible ]. >> there's so much going on right now. answer, yes. what we have actually done with the law center and others, we have a platform called share my lesson, which is free for anyone. we've put a lot of materials on

that platform about course materials, curricular materials about how to teach inclusiveness, how to teach against bias, how to do all this and trying to do it in a way that's apolitical. so there's lots of that that's going around. so yes, we're going to use this as an opportunity to educate as well as an opportunity to protest. but what we're not going to do, we're not going to take a page from them about suppressing the right of free speech. >> yes, sir? >> just curious as to how systemic you think this is going to be. going back to data splc, this data is 10 days after the election, now 20 days on. does the data show in the last 10 days this trend is continuing

or declining or getting worse? that would point to how systemic the problem is. >> in the days after the election we saw a lot of demonstrations, people acting out. the glufrs are off, politic-- g off, political correctness dying down. we're going to see spikes again and again, around the inauguration, for example. we're going to see low level harassment continuing. a study said 35% of mr. trump's twitter followers followed white supremacist sites or twitter accounts, among all the white supremacist twirts, the most popular site, twitter handle was white genocide. the second most popular was

donald trump. i think this is not going away, going to continue to fester, flourish until mr. trump takes action, acknowledges his wrongdoing, apologizes reaches out, religious leaders, people in their communities to assist in repairing this damage. >> i'm brenda from advocates. we started tracking crimes against muslims and those perceived to be muslims in 2015. when we started tracking it at one point over 50% of the incidents against houses of worship in particular. the way we're tracking them, we have a map on the website as well, looking towards federal

law, state law and what may feel definition of a hate crime there. we have not seen it slow down at all since november 2014. with the inauguration coming up, may be a spike as well. >> i work for swedish news channel. we have daily children news for children between 10 and 14. you are obviously adults but you do talk a lot about how children are affected. i was wondering if you could give me a few specific examples so children watching this understand what other children specifically are going through. >> our report after the election day, the trump effect, i hope you have a copy, is filled with very specific examples of

swastikas, fights, graffiti, name calling, bullying we've seen. i know that the teachers in randy's union could probably multiply what we've seen ten fold. in the back of our report we have some recommendations for teachers for how they can set the tone in their classrooms, how they can do what they can within the confine of their four walls to make the world a better place for their students. randy, i don't know if you want to add something. >> in my earlier remarks i gave you examples. if you're in a little boys room in a junior high school and you see written on one of the stalls something that says n, it's frightening. so what teachers in that school did, because it was not just that, it was also several other

places where they saw things written, whites only, white america, what they did in that school is that the educators came together, created a plan, created things we call restorative justice circles, had kids talk about their feelings, had kids talk together in a very diversified setting and tried to create and understand the anxiety and try to create some semblance of security and a safe space. that example is replicated throughout the country. in l.a., we have many, many kids and teachers who are what we call teachers who are what we call dacamented. poem who have gone through the

program. they themselves are concerned the new administration will use this information to not only rescind of daca but deport them. kids have told their teachers they are really afraid in school that their parents will be taken away. muslim kids have told their teachers that they don't want to wear anything that shows they are muslim. so teachers are hearing this from all over. i've heard those stories in dearborn. i've heard stories about dreamers in l.a. i gave you a story about minneapolis. the report that splc put together, every one of these incidents, the 10,000 incidents in the report has a story attached to it. >> hi, cns news. do you take a position on the

sometimes violent protests against trump being elected president? because there's violence in those protests, too. >> our report also -- our work also collected instances of anti-trump violence. we documented between 20 and 30. you know, we would condemn those just as well. at the same time defend free speech rights of the protesters. so we didn't ignore that at all. yes, ma'am. >> just to follow up. there's a lot of talk about spaces that are. calling out the phrase, stop it, that he used.

when you use social media, following what people see on social media, they become silos, people are really not talking to each other, screaming past each other and competing the talking points on the left or the right or whatever. i'm just wondering where do you get optimism that somehow that will lessen because he comes out and says stop it, or be a little more forceful. what you see on social media is being replicated in workplaces and schools and other public spaces where people are not talking to each other. >> i think on this one, leadership matters, you know. we're in a time and moment where we need to see leadership in this particular area. you know, we all have talked about the challenges of social

media and the inability to filter what's true and not true. we're going to have a long, long period here in this country about how do we reconcile that, how do we deal with that. it may well be in some of these schools, these kids are just being kids. they are pranks. when you're in an environment of heightened anxiety, we all have the responsibility to step in as leaders, to try to create a stable and unified environment. we're doing our part, trying to make sure as community leaders across the country we're giving folks the tools we need. don't panic, but try to educate our folks about what options they have. violence is never the answer. in schools teachers are being trained and given those resources. we're seeing church leaders,

faith-based leaders stepping in to think about how they can step in. we need the president-elect and our future president to also think about what he can do and say. so it's not just on one person, but that presidency is the most important role that we have in this country. he needs to do his part. he can't do it alob, but we're all trying to do our part. we need him to do his part. >> ask you a question in the ba back. >> i'm a reporter for tokyo broadcasting system and a father of two girls, six and four. i don't mean to personalize this, but my question is, when all these comments and this

anti- -- this racist attitude is shown from your president-elect, how are we adults or parents supposed to explain this to the younger ones? how are we supposed to explain what's going on and lead them to the right direction? >> i think it's an incredible conundrum. one of the disturbing facts we uncovered in our earlier trump effect report that came out in march was that almost half of the teachers in the country had decided they couldn't talk -- they couldn't teach about the election this time because they didn't know what to say about what mr. trump was saying. so i think that that is a problem for teachers. i think it's less of a problem for parents in the faith community. i think all of those folks have got to speak out.

first thing, of course, is to protect the victims, right? surround them with love, surround them with caring adults. i think when the president is saying things so discordant with our cherished values, it's an incredibly hard job. >> i'm kyra learner with think progress. janet touched on this a bit but trump has clearly been trying to confuse the media and confuse the public about what his policies will look like, who he'll name to his cabinet. he'll tweet a blatant lie, go back on the line, float something like the the muslim ban and change his mind on it ten times. what -- how is this uncertainty specifically affecting the populations you work with and what does it look like when people are uncertain of what's

going to happen in the next few months? >> again, brenda, i'll take a stab at that. as a candidate, we saw donald trump using divisive and really hateful rhetoric that singled out a number of different communities across the board. i think what's most concerning right now is his appointments. i think the appointments themselves are a signal that those policies that he tweeted, that he said on the campaign trail, everything from a registry for muslim immigrants, everything from concerns about a judge's ethnicity and being able to, you know, properly adjudicate cases as well as mass surveillance of mosques, all of that campaign rhetoric when you look at the campaign rhetoric and you look at the appointments, they connect. so our greatest concern there is really that to take a stand

right now against the bigotry and campaign rhetoric would call for president-elect trump to also change course when it comes to his appointments as well. >> i'm going to take one more question from the room and turn to the phone. yes, ma'am. >> i just wonder if you could talk a little about the face of extremism, like you see richard spencer, highly educated guy, very polished. there are more richard spencer's out there and could you compare it to the old face of extremism, could you compare it to kkk, groups more marginalized. >> spencer, head of the national policy institute is a committed racist. his words make that clear. he believes in ethnostate, men

are created unequal and there should be what he calls peaceful ethnic cleansing. he's a follower of hitler. there have been other richard spencer's before. there have been a number of highly educated white supremacists. one that comes to mind, late dr. william pierce, leader of national alliance, the author of the book that was the blueprint for the oklahoma city bombing. dr. pierce was a physicist. he was also a follower of george lincoln rockwell, former american nazi party." it's naive to think people are dim witted. they highly intellectual if sick

people there. the media interview him to confront him with his statements. richard spencer is news because steve bannon is news. i'd say it's important to cover him because one might argue that bannon is his alter ego. the reason i say that is because richard spencer is the originator of the alt-right. mr. bannon said breitbart was the platform of the alt-right. >> do you have any suggestions for what ordinary americans can do to promote tolerance and inclusiveness and to fight the hate? >> just one thing. first, one correction. there's no such thing as an ordinary american. there are only those who have answered the call and those who have not. each and every one of us in our

own way has a responsibility to push back against anything that is, you know, contrary to our values in a country. whether with your family, whether at work, whether in your house of worship, whether in a civic organization, people aren't powerless. and you know, the worst thing that one can believe is that the -- that individuals can't make a difference. that's always a self-fulling prophecy when people think they can't make a difference. the civil rights movement shows the opposite. i don't want to call you out -- we have a question on the phone. >> from the line of ken faulk from birmingham news. please proceed with the question. >> caller: yes. regarding the incident in the

reports. determined anything that would indicate a red state, north, south, east or west? >> kent, it's good to hear you if only barely. kent is from our state. you know, if you look at the map, kent, you can see at least the distribution of the 867 instances that we document of hate incidents. author of the trump effect report is here. maureen, were you saying -- >> in terms of the school -- [ inaudible ]. >> in terms of the school results, there were no regional

patterns. we found many problems in both red states and blue states. it really boils down in schools to demographics of schools. you have a large number of immigrant students or muslim students, there's the fear. it really -- it doesn't break down that easily. >> i just want to make a point as we look in particular with the lens of the latino community, i want to be clear that right now we know that of all children under the age -- latino children under the age of 18, 95% of them are american citizens. i think it's important to note that we're talking about citizen children for the most part. 95% of latino children are american citizens. so many of them find themselves being taunted or tagged or

terrorized. they are american born. you know, a lot of times part of what happens in these environments is that there's broad brushes painting all of these communities together. it's why this unity matters here today. all of us coming together saying it's not about one particular group. it's really about standing up for the principles of tolerance and inclusion and equal protection under the law. >> i want to thank everyone for coming this morning. together collectively, where our commitment is to hold mr. trump to the first commitment he made when he was clear he was the president-elect, that was to bind the wounds of division in the country. it has to be more than words. it has to be a pledge he takes seriously. he works to prepare that with his actions, that he apologizes

to the communities he's injured and his policies reflect that commitment. until he does, it will be a commitment that's unfulfilled. thank you so much.

>> as we leave this briefing, you should know it will be available later today on our website. go to c-span.org. we have more on the issue from thehill.com. law enforcement endorsements are rushing in for jeff sessions, alabama senator picked by donald trump to be the nation's next attorney general. the list includes two of the major police unions in the country, fraternal order of police, biggest police union in the country and afl-cio

international union of police associations. read more about that at thehill.com today. we have more live coverage coming up on c-span networks today. c-span3, 6:00 p.m. amy klobuchar and langford discuss how they and congress plan to work with the trump administration. here on c-span3. technology industry experts on vulnerability of electronic and internet connected devices people use daily and growing number of malicious actors trying to exploit them. recommendations to congress for protecting consumers.

>> i'll call to order the sub committee on communications and technology in our joint committee hearing on congress manufacturing and trade. good morning, everyone. i'll start with opening statements for our side and for our subcommittee and i think we go back and forth. so work this out. i want to thank two subcommittees for coming together on this very important topic i think we all share a deep concern about. we live in a world increasingly connected. our smart phones are capable of locking and unlocking our front doors at home, turning on lights, checking the camera for packages left on the doorstep. measure our steps, check baby monitors, record our favorite programs from wherever we have connectivity. we'll soon be able to communicate -- we communicate but commute, driverless cars, trains, buses, have blood sugar checked remotely, important

resources from town to town efficiently. these are incredible, potentialally lifesaving benefits our set is learning to embrace. we're learning these innovations do not come without a cost. in fact, recently we encountered a denial of service attack on a scale never before seen. this attack blocked arkansas to popular sites like netflix and twitter unsecure network devices like cameras and dvrs. once these devices came under control of bad actors, a flood of dna requests rendered dns servers ineffective. virtually impossible to distinguish malicious traffic from other normal traffic making it particularly difficult to mitigate against attack. so how do we make ourselves more secure without sacrificing benefits of innovation.

might be to regulate. a certain level of regulation off the table, the question is whether we need a more holistic approach. the united states cannot regulate the world. standards applied to american sold devices won't capture millions sold around the world so vulnerabilities might remain. any sustainable solution will require all members ecosystem of the so-called internet of things. we'll need concerted effort to improve not only device security but coordinate network security and improve relationships between industry and security researchers. we're all in this thing together. industry, researchers will need to take responsibility for securing this internet of things. so today we'll hear from a very distinguished panel of witnesses on some of the approaches that can be brought to bear on this challenge. my hope is it will foster

innovation that makes greatest commerce the world has ever seen. i thank witnesses for being here. we appreciate your willingness to come and share your expertise. it's very helpful in our endeavors and i look forward to your testimony. at this time i would yield to miss blackburn for opening statement. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i also want to welcome our witnesses. we appreciate your time. we did an internet of things hearing in march 2015. at that point i talked a lot about convenience this brings to us in our daily lives and the opportunity it will bring for us. now we look at it, as the chairman said, you look at the cost, you look at the maximized use that exists. i think by 2020 the expectation is $3.4 billion devices that

would be in this universe of connect connected, that means vulnerabilities that exist. we want to discuss these vulnerabilities with you today, get your insight, see how policymakers work with this wonderfully exciting innovative area in order to make certain americans have access but they also know that there is, as the chairman said, security as we approach this. with that, mr. chairman, i yield back. >> gentlelady yields back balance of her time. i yield back the balance of my time as well. turn to the gentlelady from california for comments. >> thank you. first of all i want to express our collective thanks from this

side of the aisle to you for responding to our request to have this hearing. we all made the request and we're grateful to you for holding the hearing because we think this is, obviously, a very large issue and something that concerns the american people. in fact, americans are connecting more devices to the internet than ever before. most of us carry at least one in our pocket, but as technology evolves, we're seeing a proliferation of everyday items and appliances that connect online. this is good. today everything from washing machines to lightbulbs are now capable of connecting to the internet. the business world also relies more and more on the internet. in fact, internet-enabled objects to drive their efficiencies to produce lower costs.

there are as many as 6.4 billion -- billion with a "b," -- internet of things products in use worldwide this year. the growth in this market is expected to be significant, including estimates of over $20 billion internet-enabled products connected worldwide by 2020. so this is not a small market. it makes it a very large issue. it is an economic one, and we don't want to damage that, but it's something that needs our attention. there's great potential for innovation as more devices become connected. but there's also the potential for serious risk if they're not properly secured. that's really what we're pursuing here. we need to look no further than the major attack on october 21st that crippled some of the most popular websites and services in our country. the distributed denial of service attack against dynamic

network services, known as dyne, was made possible by unsecured internet of things devices that attackers were able to infect with malware. this army of devices was then harnessed by the attackers to bring down dyne's servers. similar attacks in october targeted a journalist and a french cloud services provider. these attacks raised troubling questions about the security of internet-enabled devices and their potential to be used as weapons by cyberattackers. for example, it's been reported that some devices used in these attacks may have lacked the functionality to allow users to change the default user name and password. we already know that an important way to prevent cyberattacks is to practice good cyberhygiene which includes changing default user names and passwords. when products lacking the common sense functionality are manufactured, shipped and

eventually connected, they put users and the internet as a whole at risk. so it seems to me that this is an area that we need to explore with our witnesses. there's also the issue of how long these unsecured devices can remain in use. the dyne attack reportedly used infected devices that were first manufactured as early as 2004. manufacturers may no longer update products that have been in use for so long, further exposing users in the internet to security risks. finally, we have to recognize that this is a global issue. level three communications estimates that a little more than a quarter of these devices infected with the malware that was used in the dyne attacks are located in the united states. one of the major manufacturer of products that appear to be particularly vulnerable is based in china.

this is important to keep in mind as we explore how to address this problem going forward. so this hearing, i think, is a very important step in helping us, first of all, to all understand what lessons we should take away from these recent attacks. the internet of things offers exciting possibilities for innovation, but we can't afford to ignore the risks that come when devices are designed without security. whatever the ultimate solution is, i think industry must play a central role in the effort to address these issues, and i look forward to hearing from our witnesses today. you play a very important role in this. with that, thank you again, mr. chairman, for allowing this hearing to take place, and i yield back the balance of my time. >> the gentlelady yields back the balance of the time. the chair now recognizes the

gentleman from texas, dr. burgess. >> thank you, mr. chairman, for holding the hearing and allowing us to have the discussion about recent cyber attacks. several popular websites were knocked offline for several hours on october 21st of this year. hackers used malware to create a botnet, a gargantuan amorphous mass of connected devices to flood a domain server with terabytes of traffic overwhelming the system and providing legitimate traffic from accessing those devices. in this case, the result was brief, but the outages were on consumer facing websites. the incident is unique in that it wasn't someone's desktop or laptop but it was the armies of compromised devices that launched these attacks without the knowledge of the device owners. many of the devices are regular household items such as baby monitors, dvrs, webcams, and

many consumers do not realize they do need strong cyber protections on even these everyday devices. but that's exactly why this attack and others like it has been so successful. the malware that created this botnet spread to vulnerable devices by continuously scanning the internet for internet of things systems protected only by the factory default manually generated user names and passwords. the balance between functionality and security is not going to be resolved in the near term. consumers want the newest and fastest device. they want it as soon as possible, and they have not employed adequate security protections. in fact, the most common password is the word password. the culture surrounding personal cybersecurity must change to ensure that the internet of things is not vulnerable to a single insecure device. the subcommittee on commerce informing and trade has explored cybersecurity through a number of hearings, including our disruptor series.

cybersecurity, the issue of cybersecurity has been raised and discussed at each of these hearings. the government is never going to be big enough to have the manpower and resources to address all of these challenges as they come up, which is why it is so important why i'm grateful that we have industry here today to discuss this with us, because they must take the lead. recent attacks present a unique opportunity to examine the scope of the threats and the vulnerabilities presented by connected devices and to learn how stakeholders are considering these risks throughout the supply chain as well as how consumers are responding in the market. we have learned about a number of best practices and standard-setting projects that are ongoing with various groups. it's an exciting time in the growth of interconnected devices, the growth of the internet of things. it is really going to be life-changing for so many industries. but we also need leadership from industry about how to address these real challenges. again, i want to welcome our

witnesses, and then i'm pleased to yield the balance of my time from the gentleman from ohio, mr. latta. >> thank you very much, and i appreciate the gentleman for yielding. and i also appreciate both chairmen of both subcommittees for holding this very important subcommittee hearing today on the cybersecurity risks associated with connected devices. as i mentioned, last month, we witnessed one of the biggest service denial to the internet or internet of things. the attack revealed the impact that a lack of adequate security measures in these devices can have on the broader internet community. by simply exploiting weak security features, such as default usernames and passwords, hackers could easily leverage hundreds of thousands of networked devices and compromise several major websites. that is why it is essential under the internet of things device manufacturers build in security by design and have the ability to deploy patches or

upgrades. additionally, consumers must be vigilant in securing devices through good cyber hygiene practice in order to guard data and fully experience the benefit of the internet of things. as the co-chair of the committee on the internet of things working group, i am all too familiar with this issue. cybersecurity's among one of the most common themes that is mentioned in all of our working group briefings. no matter what type of iot, from health to energy applications, securing devices, protecting consumer data is a top priority. today we are reminded again that there is a need for iot security, the guidelines that keep pace with rapidly evolving technologies. however, there is a delicate balance between oversight and regulatory flexibility, and we must encourage the industry to establish best practices that will not hinder innovation and protect consumer privacy and security. and with that, i appreciate the gentleman for yielding and i yield back. >> gentlemen yield back their

time. we will turn to the gentle lady from illinois, ms. schakowsky for opening comments. >> thank you, mr. chairman. with each new report of a cyber attack, americans increasingly realize how vulnerable their devices are. on october 21st, americans lost access to sites such as twitter, amazon and spotify because of a massive distribution denial of service or ddos attack against dine, a domain naming system company. in the wake of that attack, i joined with representatives pallone, eshoo, daggett and mcnerney in requesting a hearing like this on this important issue. we need to better understand our vulnerabilities and update federal policy to stop such attacks in the future. the motivations of hackers vary from identity theft to actually undermining public trust. they go after consumers, businesses, and even presidential elections. the u.s. intelligence community

found that hackers supported by the russian government put their thumb on the scale in 2016. i strongly believe that use of cyber attacks by a foreign actor to manipulate our democracy should be troubling to everyone. this problem does not go away now that the 2016 election is over. the day after the election, a "wired" article reported "that russia perceives those operations as successful, experts say will only encourage similar hacks aimed at shifting elections and sewing distrust of the political processes in the western democracies." everyone, whether your candidate won or lost last week, must grapple with this threat, and i hope that we will work on a bipartisan basis to protect our democracy from foreign interference. russian hackers exploited holes in security on computers and servers. the hackers that carried out the october 21st ddos attack

directed their attack through the internet of things. the internet of things is uniquely vulnerable to cyber attacks. iot devices often have less protection from malware, and manufacturers are often slower to install security patches. manufacturers put consumers at further risk by using default passwords or hard-coded credentials. once hackers find out what those passwords are, they can hack hundreds, thousands, or even millions of devices. that's what happened in the dine attack. hackers accessed an army of iot devices by exploiting default passwords and then use that army to attack. traffic from the iot devices overwhelmed the service and shut it down, which in turn cut off americans' access to many popular websites. you don't have to be a tech expert to see the terrifying

potential for future cyber attacks, so it's time now for action. two weeks ago, ranking member pallone and i called on the federal trade commission to work with iot manufacturers to patch vulnerabilities on their devices and require the changing of default passwords. we also called on the ftc to alert consumers about potential security risks. we need stronger cybersecurity standards for all devices that could be attacked or used to launch a cyber attack. given the nature of cyber attacks, we cannot count on iot manufacturers to do the right thing on their own. they have little incentive to improve security and consumers may not even realize when their devices are being used to harm others. watchdogs must take a leading role in promoting cybersecurity and holding companies accountable when they fail to provide adequate protections. unfortunately, at the same time that the threat to consumers

from cyber attacks are rising, the republican majority is pushing legislation to reduce the ftc's authority and cripple its enforcement capabilities. stopping irresponsible behavior by companies requires strong consent orders and the ability to pursue privacy cases. the so-called "process reform" bill that republicans recorded out of committee would threaten the ftc's ability in those areas. instead of rolling back consumer protections we need to face today's cyber threats head on. consumers can't afford to be left vulnerable. and in the long run, manufacturers can survive a pattern of high-profile cyber attacks that undermine consumer trust in their products. in mr. schneier's written testimony, he called the dyn attack failure and we should not be content with failure any longer.

i want to thank the chairman for listening to our request for a hearing and we have to continue our work on this issue in the months and years to come. >> gentle lady yields back her time. we thank you very much for your request. we share in this concern, obviously. it's a bipartisan issue. we look forward now to the testimony from our expert witnesses. we're glad you're all here and we'll start with mr. dale drew, who is the senior vice president, chief security officer for level 3 communications. mr. drew, welcome. thank you very much. turn on your microphone and have at it. >> chairman walden and burgess and ranking members eshoo and schakowsky, thank you for the ability to testify. regarding the recent cyber attacks on our landscape and vulnerabilities found in iot devices. level 3 is a global communications company serving customers in more than 500 markets in over 60 countries. we have a significant network footprint in the amount of traffic we handle on a daily

basis. level 3 has a unique perspective on threats facing our communications landscape. several years ago, level 3 established the threat research labs to actively monitor communications for malicious activity, helping to detect and mitigate threats on our networks, our customers and the broader internet. every day our security team monitors more than 48 billion security events, discovering over 1 billion pieces of suspicious traffic. the proliferation of iot devices represents tremendous opportunities and benefits for consumers by connecting devices like cameras, light bulbs and abolinass and other tyz to the internet. however, the lack of security devices poses a significant risk to user and the broader community. vulnerabilities stem from several sources. some utilize default and passwords that others can exploit. others utilize hard-coded credentials that users are not able to change. many devices also lack the capability of updating their firm order, forcing consumers to

monitor for and install updates themselves. the global nature of the iot device marketplace means many products are manufactured in and shipped to foreign countries that have yet to embrace sound and mature cybersecurity practices. iot devices are also particularly attractive targets because users often have little way to know when they've been compromised. unlike your personal computer or a phone, which have end point protection capabilities and the user's more likely to notice when they perform improperly, compromised iot devices may go unnotices for longer periods of time. in september of 2016, level 3's threat research labs began tracking a family of malware targeting iot devices. bad actors were leveraging the infected devices to create ddos botnets, affecting the devices and anyone on the internet. the malware has affected nearly 2 million devices on the internet. it resulted in multiple major websites going of